Paul l



nrrnn rates ATENT rricE.

PAVE L. Mrfll'lllll l, ()F NEXARK, NE\Y JERSEY, ASSTGNOF TO hElYlS l).)lAll'llllE, OF SAME PLACE.

LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 399,423, dated March12, 1889.

Application filed hugust 20, 1888. Serial No. 283,180. (Modeld To (all2071/0111. 21! may concern:

Be itknown that 1, PAUL L. MALTBIE, a citizen of the l nited States,residin at Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Latches, fully described and rc n'escntcd inthe following specilicat ion and the acmnnpanying drawings, forming apart of the same.

The object ol this invention is to furnish a latch which will forciblyclose and hold shut a heavy door with but slight exertion upon thepartof the operator without strain upon the fastenings of the latch.

With my construction the latch may, it desired, be operated with equalfacility from either side of the door, as from the interior or exteriorof a large refrigerator. The construction is also such that the fixturesare adapted for application to the right or left hand side of a doorwithout alteration.

My improvement will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings,in which- Figures 1 and 2 represent views upon the inner side of thedoor with a portion of the surrounding casing, the latch in Fig. 1 beingshown in the position itnormallyassumes, and the latch in Fig. 2 beingshown fully closed. In Fig. l. the handle upon the opposite side of thedoor is shown in dotted lines; but in Fig. 2 such handle is omitted, andthe latch and handle upon the nearer side of the deer are shown indotted lines turned to open the door and in full lines to secure thedoor. Fig. 3 is a plan, in section where hatched, on line or L1, in Fig2: and Figxl a section 011 line y y in Fig. 2. Fig. is a plan, upon alarger scale, of one of the spimile-bearings with a portion of thespindle. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the same bearing and spindle,with the external handle shown in black lines in oneposition and indotted lines in another position, and the handle being broken for wantof space. Fig. 7 is an end view similar to that shown in Fig. i of thehead of the latch and the guard-plate, showing the latch partly movedupon the plate in the act of closing the door. Fig. R is a plan view indetail of the guard c.

A is the door-frame; B, the door; C, its hinges, andl) a rabbet andbevel formed upon the edge of the door, as is common in refrigerators,to form a close joint. The guard 12 is in my invention placed upon theinnerside of the door-future, and is formed with a lip, e, beveled toreceive the head of the latch when the door closed, and to thus open thelatch ant'omatically.

The latch consists in a pivoted head, f, attached to a spindle, y, andprovided on its head with a convex seat, 71, and one or two rolls, 1?.The rolls are pivoted in one or both ends of the seat to bear upon theguard in advance of the seat, and to thus diminish the frictionalresistance in operating the latch to close the door.

The head is secured upon the spindle g, which is mounted in bearings 7.,let into the door adjacent to the guard, and the opposite ends of thespindle are provided with. leverhandles 7 and l, by which the latch maybe operated respectively from the inner and outer sides of the door. Forconvenience the head f is formed in one casting or piece with the innerhandle, 7; but the outer handle is applied merely to the spindle, andits movement is restricted by stops m m, affixed upon the flange of theouter bearing to limit the movement of the latch.

The handle I is preferably aflixed to the spindle at an angle of aboutforty-five de grees with the handle I, as shown in Fig. 1, so that thehandles naturally assume a position beneath the pivot, as shown. in Fig.l, which holds the latch in readiness to close the door. \Vhen in thisposition, the head projects within the extreme edge of the guard 6, butas the door closes is forced back by the sloping lip c, and when thedoor is fully closed automatically assumes its normal position. (Shownin Fig. l.)

The head of the latch. ad j accnt to the guard is rounded, as shown inthe seat 71 in Figs. 4c and 7, and the guard is also rounded or taperedto operate as a wedge when the seat is forced thereon and draw the doortightly shut.

The pivot of the roll L .lixed radially in one corner of the head 1",and the roll projects slightly beyond the head, and when the latch isturned to close the door the roll therefore bears upon the guard andpermits the turning of the latch with very little frictional resistance.Owing to the convex or wedge-like form of the guard, the seat 7L, whenit comes to a bearin g thereon, operates to raise the roll from theguard, and thus by its friction retains the latch in its closedposition. When the latch and its inner handle, Z, are in the positionshown in Fig. 2 in full and dotted lines, respectively, the handle Z isin contact with the stops m and m, and the head of the latch may thus bemoved to the highest part of the seat without any adjustment on the partof the operator.

The face of the guard is shown rounded or tapered in both directionsfrom the middle point, and the head f is shown provided with two rolls,2', pivoted in its opposite upper corners equidistant from the center ofthe seat h; but it is obvious that with the operation of closing thedoor just described only one end of the guard would be used and only theroller which first encounters the guard.

The construction of the seat and head symmetrically enables the latchand guard, however, to be applied to either the right or left hand sideof a door without change.

The handles Z Z are shown formed with square holes fitted to the squareshank of the spindle, and the outer end of the latter is shown formed inFig. 5 upon its corners with a screw-thread, to which a nut, 13, may beapplied, and such nut may thus be readily used to hold the spindle andhandles in position and to compensate for variations in the thickness ofthe door. As the head of the handle Z against which the nut bears cannotturn upon the spindle, the nut retains its position without anyfastening. By removing the nut the handle 1" may, if desired, beprojected above the spindle instead of below, as in Fig. 6, and thesquare holes formed in the handles Z and Z are arranged at suchinclination to the axes of the two handles that the handle Z may beplaced upon the spindle at equal opposite angles with the head f, so asto operate upon either the left or right side of the door.

The bearings k are shown formed with flanges it, by means of which theymay be screwed or bolted to the door, the bearings themselves projectinginto the door a sufiicient distance to support a square spindle bycontact with its corners.

By placing the latch upon the inner side of the door and forming theguard upon the adjacent frame, the strain of closing the door tends topress the guard close to the frame instead of straining it off, as inmany other constructions. As the spindle passes entirely through thedoor, the end-thrust which is imposed upon it in forcing the door shutis fully sustained by the nut 19, and the strain upon the door is nogreater than if the latch-head were operated upon the outer side of thedoor, and serves to press the same shut by engaging with a guard uponthe door-casing. As the frames of the doors to which my latch isparticularly adapted are comm only made with a bevel to permit ofclosing the same tightly,

such bevel affords a convenient means for fitting the lip 01 to thedoor-casing to receive the impact of the head when it is turned in itsnormal position, as shown in Fig. 1, the lip then serving to push thehead of the latch back, so that the weight of the handles may serve toautomatically throw its corner over the guards when the door is fullyshut, as shown in Fig. 1. In opening the door the inner handle, I, isturned straight downward, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus wholly avoidsinterference with the door-frame, while the weight of the outer handle,which is placed at an angle therewith, as shown in Fig. 1, operatesautomatically to throw the head into its norm alposition when the handleis released by the operator, so as to engage with the guard.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that when the latch is in itsnormal position and unlocked both handles hang at equal angles with theperpendicular, and one corn er of the head f projects slightly beyondthe edge of the door. Thus when the door is pushed shut the projectingcorner of the head, which is rounded or beveled on its outer side, asshown in Figs. 4 and 7, strikes against the beveled lip 6 upon thedoor-frame, and the head is forced backward until the door is entirelyclosed, when the head again assumes its normal position, therebyautomatically latching the door. The door may be jammed shut to anydesired degree by applying sutficient force to one of the handles in theproper direction after the door is latched.

I am aware that it is not new to apply handles to a spindle operating adoor-latch at each side of the door; but my invention differs fromothersin having such handles set at an angle with each other andoperating by their weight to proj ect the latch slightly beyond the edgeof the door when in its normal position and to avoid interference withthe door-frame when the latch is withdrawn to open or close the door. Iam also aware that it is not new to provide the head of a latch with aroller; but my invention differs from any construction heretofore in usein having a curved seat to bear .upon the sloping guard intermediate tothe rollers to operate as above described. I hereby disclaim suchprevious constructions, limiting myself to that specifically claimedherein.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s

1. In a latch, the combination, with a sloping guard affixed upon theinner side of the door-frame, of a head pivoted upon a spindle extendedthrough the door and provided with handles upon the inner and outersides of the door, set at an angle with each other and projectin gdownwardly to operate by their weight to hold the latch in its normalposition, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a latch, the combination, with a sloping guard affixed upon theinner face of the door-frame, of a head pivoted upon a spindle extendedthrough the door and provided with rollers in its opposite corners andwith a curved seat intermediate to the rollers to bear upon the guard,and a handle upon the spindle at each side of the door to turn the head,as and for the purpose setforth.

3. In a latch, the combination, with a sloping guard affixed upon theinner face of the door-frame and having a beveled lip extending insidethe d0oropening, of a head pivoted upon a spindle and provided withrollers in its opposite corners, and with a curved seat intermediate tothe rollers to bear upon the guard and having its outer corners beveled,as described, and a handle upon the spindle at each side of the door toturn the head, as and for the purpose set forth.

PAUL L. )LUJlBIE.

Witnesses:

IJJIJEE, II. .T. MILLER.

